A Hitman's Heart
by Madness and Greed
Summary: In the shadows of the night a hitman is searching for his target while in another part of Karakura Town an auburn haired girl awakes the Hollow of her heart. Both sides are on their own search for redemption, sturggeling with their feelings. What fate awaits them if their paths cross?
1. I will make your problems disappear

It is much fun to write this story and quite a bit of work to translate it from German into acceptable English. Not only because of that reviews are greatly appriciated.

The story is betad by **OveractiveImagination39**.

**Disclaimer: **Bleach and its characters belong to Tite Kubo. I am not making money with this story

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**_Prologue: "I will make your problems disappear..."_**

The sun had already set leaving the town of Karakura to night's awakening darkness. The streets were filled with joyful laughter and carefree people, who were looking for entertainment in the local bars and restaurants.

However, in the town's center, where the buildings grew high in the sky and the streets were void of life due to that late hour, something ominous was about to happen. Indeed it was something that was not to be handled lightly. On the highest floor of Karakura Bank Headquarters, an investment bank and a global player, a man sat behind his desk, waiting.

The only light in the room came from a reading lamp. The icy-cold, white light cast shadows on the man's face, causing him to look much older, his face more wrinkled. His suit was sinfully expensive, just like the golden wristwatch, to which his gaze was drawn every few seconds. And every time he looked at the watch, he pulled his eyebrows together in annoyance and anger.

His business associate - as he liked to call the man to put his own conscience at ease - was late. He was not a man who was used to waiting. Money – he had plenty of that to spend, but time, well that to him was of even greater value, and something he could not afford to waste. However, in this case the person he was waiting for was already closer than he would have liked.

"Hoshi Goro?"

He almost jumped out of his chair, because of the words were spoken without any warning. There had not been any indications to another person being in the room besides him. No sound of a door opening; no steps in the dark. Just the sudden question.

"Yes?" he gasped. "Who's there?" His tone was not as loud and clear as he would have liked it.

"We bear many names. We are the Sword in the Shadows, the Feathery Snake, and the Golden Dragon…yes, call us the Golden Dragon," the voice in the dark answered with a chuckle of sinister amusement, which sent shivers down the business man's spine.

"I've h-heard that…" he cleared his throat, because he sounded more than a little hysterical. Then he continued still not relaxed, "I've heard that you are the best when it comes to…solving certain problems. You know, making people disappear. I've been told you can do that."

When the answer did not come instantly, he nervously licked his dry lips and began to play with the band of his wristwatch. Somehow he thought that this was not such as good an idea as he first had thought.

Why had he not just hired some easy to handle youngster from the streets? This would have been much cheaper and less intimidating than speaking with someone hiding in a dark corner of his office. Someone who didn't bother to treat him with the respect normally shown the owner of such a powerful business. Yes, anything would have been better than this. There always were enough money grabbing thugs out there, but the time to hire one of them was long past, he thought with regret.

"You know our conditions, I suppose?" the shadow asked, now deadly serious. A single drop of cold sweat ran down the side of the banker's face.

"Yes, I do know your conditions, as well as your price."

He lifted a heavy suitcase and placed it on his desk. He tried to muster a confident smile, but failed miserably. Instead his face turned into a grimace of malaise. Silver clasps clicked and the case was opened to reveal bank notes hot off the press. Many of them.

"Just a name and a photo and your problem will just disappear. You will know when it's done, but you will not hear anything from us afterwards. Except if you have another problem we should take care of for you. Of course, you will have to pay our price again."

After a pregnant pause, Hoshi quietly asked, "We have an agreement then?"

The banker shivered once again, when a hand reached out in his direction, inspecting the briefcase and its contents. The rest of his secret visitor remained in the shadows.

Hoshi wondered if there even was something to see, or if the man was just a shadow himself. A bundle of money was inspected with suspicion, before it was thrown back into the case. The clasps clicked shut.

"The target?"

Desperately, Hoshi tried to get his fear back in check, but his hands were sweaty nonetheless as he reached into his pocket to get the picture. He threw it across the table and it was caught in midair, trapped between two slender fingers. The man in the shadows held the picture under the lamp on the desk, then turned it around to read the name that was written on the back. Just for a short moment two orbs flashed in the darkness, filling the cold business man's heart with utter fear. Two golden eyes with pupils slit like those of a reptile, glowing bright and fearsome even without the touch of light.

Hoshi´s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach, beating painfully fast, pumping the blood through his veins like never before. Just when he thought he could not stand it any longer, the eyes disappeared.

When he spoke again, the killer's voice once more sounded almost playful still holding a sinister vibration, just like the time he introduced himself. He said to his client, "It is settled then. The pact has been made. Consider your problem to be solved."

"How…how long will it take you," the banker asked meekly. No answer was given. "Hello? Golden Dragon?"

Silence. The man was gone. The darkness soundlessly had swallowed him again. Hoshi was alone in his office and there was no indication that he had not been the entire time. The banker waited in fear for a few minutes more, listening for any noise.

However, there was none, he truly was alone. Horrified, he rose from his chair and hurried out of his office. He needed a bottle of sake right now and the security of his home. There he would hopefully find distraction from the nightmare of a meeting he had just put himself in.

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Thanks to **OveractiveImagination39 **for betareading and helping with the translation.  
As for the readers: Tell us what you think about the prologue by leaving some reviews! :)


	2. Bring back what once was

**Chapter** _**one: "Bring back what once**_** was…"**

It was a sunny day, too sunny for her liking. The redhead looked out of the window, like she often did, stuck in one of these little daydreams of hers. She almost could not remember the place she had been taken to, the place where she had been held hostage. Had it been a year already since she returned? It was a certainly unpleasant memory and she should have been grateful for it fading away into uncertainness. However she could not. There were still so many questions, questions she was eager to find the answers to as well as she feared that answers.

The teacher was enthusiastically telling the pupils about Japan´s qualities when it came to economy and financial businesses, but his words did not reach her. When she looked at him, his lips just moved without producing any sound at all. Her guess was that she was spacing out again. As soon as her distracted brain picked up the thought she forgot to bring it to an end.

Instead she thought about if what she was thinking about for a few days now was something one should even consider to think about. She did not know if it would work or not. She did not know if she even wanted it to work, but she knew she just had to try. Try her best. Something inside her said that she had to take her chances that she had to be absolutely sure.

When the bell rang she did not get up immediately. She needed a few more moments just sitting here thinking. A soft pat on the shoulder finally got her out of her daydream. She looked up to find the concerned face of her friend Tatsuki Arisawa, who was glancing down at her.

"You have been spacing out again, haven´t you?" she asked a little bit accusingly. While that usually was a specialty of hers, that particular expression was new. Tatsuki seemed to be really worried. However Orihime did not want to talk about it. Not even with her best friend.

"I-I am s-sorry, Tatsuki-chan!", she exclaimed.

"No big deal", she shrugged. "Come on now, let´s go home already."

Smiling as to not raise any further suspicion she packed her bag and the two girls left their classroom together.

"Weekend is finally here!", Tatsuki cheered. She stretched herself as if she wanted to get the past week of school out of her system.

"Mhm", Orihime mumbled quietly.

Her Gaze as well as her thoughts was wondering off once again. Both focused on the orange shock of hair that was walking in front of them. Or more precisely the boy which said hair belonged to. It was always kind of awkward to see him, but today it was especially weird. Not really bad or entirely unpleasant, but not entirely good either.

"Kurosaki-kun", she greeted him. "Are you walking with us?"

He slowly turned around, his arms crossed behind his head. "Inoue, Arisawa…yes, fine with me."

Lately she had come to realize that she was not as tense as she used to be a year ago around him. She could look at him now without having the butterflies in her stomach flap their wings furiously. However as of late said butterflies had gotten alarmingly lethargic.

It probably had something to do with him being different than a year ago. After the battle in fake Karakura town he had changed. No, even before that. Though he was still stubborn as a mule and easily annoyed, his attitude was no longer likable in a kind of twisted sense. He was no longer just a teenager plagued by puberty, but a very sad and bitter person.

She inwardly let out a sigh. With her powers she had tried to bring his back, but it had not worked. His inner Shinigami seemed to have vanished along with his abilities. As if that would not have been enough, they had not heard anything from soul society or Rukia ever since they had defeated the traitor Aizen. She did not know what hurt him more.

On their way they did not talk much. Tatsuki tried to lighten the mood here and there, but she did not quite succeed. Orihime had to admit that she was relieved, when she finally stood in front of her door.

"Guess we´ll see you on Monday then, Orihime" Tatsuki said as she put her hand on the auburn haired teen´s shoulder and patted it softly. In fact she drew her friend a small smile.

The two waved goodbye – Ichigo only after he had gotten a rather hard hit on the back of his head. As they turned around, Orihimes shoulders dropped. The smile faded from her face. Unnerved she opened the door and stepped into the hallway. She threw her bag carelessly into a corner and hurriedly pulled off her shoes.

Filled with anticipation and excitement she stormed into her bedroom and opened her wardrobe. She took a few deep breaths of air to calm herself down, then she began to work herself through the many outfits she had collected over the past years.

Now she knew why something inside her had kept her from throwing it away. She had banished it to the back of her closet and the back of her mind, yes, but she had never forgotten it completely. She had never wanted to forget. The fear maybe, the desert and the eternal night, but not the clothes she wore or…him.

On the outside the white dress was not much of an eye-catcher anymore. It was ripped to shreds in some places, full of dirt and because of that it did not smell very nice. She had neither stitched nor washed it. Right there at the sight of her old uniform she stopped for a moment. Was it really the right thing to do or was it just an act of selfishness?

Whatever if may was she was beyond the point of no return now. Cautiously she picked it up and put it on the empty table near her bed. Today was the day at last. Now she would see for her own if it worked or if it did not.

With trembling fingers, she tied her hair into a knot. She made sure that all the windows were closed. The smallest breeze could undo all her work and she could not let that happen.

She picked up the brush and the bowl which she had prepared yesterday evening. Carefully, so as not to lose any precious grains, she began to brush off Hueco Mundos sands and dry dust.

However not just dust and desert. With utmost care she made sure that the dirt got into the bowl until the time her fingers started to hurt and the fabric under the brush began to roughen up.

It was not much, only a small heap of sand. Nonetheless as she had hoped and believed, not all of the particles were white, like the wasteland of the vast Hollow Empire. Some of the sand grains were of a deep black color. A fact that hinted all too clearly to their origin.

She had not used her powers for weeks in order to be sure that she could give everything she had. Soon it would be over. The wondering, the thinking, the uncertainty. Finally she would be able to set her mind at peace and bury these thoughts, start again or continue, depending on the outcome of her little experiment. Though she was frightened and self-conscious, she held out her hands above the bowl and took a last deep breath.

Then she softly whispered: "Soten Kisshun ... I reject."

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What do you reject, Orihime? Tell us! Oh, you want to wait until the next chapter is out? Fine with me, but the readers probably would like to know! They can always ask questions or give some feedback by reviewing though... ;D

Thanks again to **OveractiveImagination39 **for betareading the story.  
And also: Thanks **ulquihime7980 **for your review! :3


	3. I see you

Nice to see you again, folks! We hope you are just as happy as us now that you´ve found back here!:) Have fun with the new chapter!

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**Chapter two: "I see you…"**

It began as a gentle pull. With this feeling, he was aware that he had a self, and that he had begun to exist again. One minute ago he had been the perfect embodiment of nihilism.

Nothing.

Inexistent.

Without a body, without a mind or soul.

However now he felt it. Wherever and whatever it was, it changed something. A memory formed in his mind: images of a horned shadow that pushed him to the ground, on top of a dome, in a desert where the moon was the only light.

He had died. No, more than that. In that endless darkness, he had ceased to exist. He did not know how long he had been away; everything had been taken from him, including his sense of space and time. But now both slowly returned to him.

He felt like he was floating. Something filled him with warmth and comfort, unlike any he had ever felt before. A thought struck in him that moment, the first of its kind after a long absence, and he remembered that his life up until that time had in fact been void of all feeling.

The heat was getting stronger, more and more intense. It filled his bones and his flesh to the last fiber. Yes, he had bones. He had flesh. He had a body. Blinding light filled his field of vision as he opened deep green eyes. And as the final piece of him was put back into place, a solemn sound, a name echoed in his mind.

Ulquiorra.

He was Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra Cifer.

And he was reborn.

Orihime, filled with joy as much as with horror put her hands in front of her mouth. It felt like a dream, whether a good or a bad one was not certain yet. She had done it. He was here. She had brought him back. Blinking and still disoriented, he was lying on her bedroom floor, wearing only a bed sheet which she had hastily thrown over him, as his body had begun to take concrete shape.

Then suddenly he looked at her, his incredibly green eyes piercing her. Without indication as to whether his return from the afterlife had made him particularly upset or even surprised, he spoke with his dark velvety voice:

"What have you done, Onna?"

His tone was almost accusing. However, in an odd way she was happy to recognize his way of speaking so bluntly and sternly with her.

"I-I ..." Yes, what had she done? Her throat was dry. "What happened in Hueco Mundo, should not have happened," she stuttered.

Suddenly a thought appeared to her which had not even crossed her mind until now. What if he was dangerous? Slowly she moved her aching fingers. She couldn´t take them down yet. He was not quite back to normal.

Would he hurt her? What reason should he have now? For a long time he sat there in silence, just staring at her with that intense gaze of his. Though his face was the usual expressionless mask it had always been, she knew that he was thinking. Thinking was something that she should have done in advance. Before she could regret having acted so panicky however, something strange happened, something frightening.

Quietly, she heard the voices of her Shun Shun Rikka, whispering: "Orihime ... we are exhausted ... We can no longer hold it up..."

A moment later, the golden and orange dome over Ulquiorra's body flickered and eventually disappeared. The fairy helpers returned to their previous form as barrettes. Orihime swallowed hard.

"How long was I gone, and what has happened during my absence?"

His stern voice pulled her out of her thoughts. For a few seconds she just sat there, mouth open and looking silly. Then she overcame her shock and started to explain the not so recent events to him.

"It's been a year", she said softly. In order to cure him completely, she would have to rest for a while. It would not be bad for him to rest too. "Las Noches ... fell."

His eyes widened. Only a bit. But it was by his standards a motion of shock and surprise, as well as disbelief. "Aizen-sama is dead?"

She shook her head. "Trapped. Imprisoned. Like the surviving Espada, I think. We haven't heard from Soul Society for a long time ..."

He looked away from her, apparently lost in thought. She knew that he believed her. Whatever reason could he have not to? After all, she had just saved his life, no, given it back to him. And she did not even get so much as a thank you in return. But she did not care for the time being.

Orihime took a deep breath. "I'm sure you want to get some rest. A lot happened. Please don´t move. I´ll just go to my room and get some clothes for you. I'll be right back."

He nodded silently, without paying any more attention to her. She left the room after she had made sure with a cautious look back that he stayed right there on the floor.

As soon as the girl was gone, Ulquiorra began to examine his body with mild interest. It all looked the way he remembered it. His arms, his legs, the bony rest of a mask in the form of a helmet, it was all there. His hollow hole had not vanished either, as he noted when moving his fingers near his collarbone. He was also able to feel his sword right beside him.

Out of mere formality, he also took a glance under the bed sheet that covered his nakedness. Yes, everything was in its place. As a test, he held a hand up to the light and moved his pale fingers. This hand had reached out to her, just before he was turned to dust and the wind had carried his essence away. For a moment, this hand had held the secret he had tried so desperately do acquire. Until the end he had striven to explore it but just before it was revealed to him he literally vanished into thin air.

He could remember it as if it had been yesterday, because for him it was. A missing year was nothing for him, only a meaningless word. A loss most certainly irrelevant for a being, that was in possession of eternal life. Ulquiorra clenched his fist. It did not feel the way it should have. He felt no strength in his fingers. Though he was in his sealed form, this was definitely not right.

Obviously, the woman had not finished her work or he just had to wait a bit. But then what? What was she thinking? Suddenly his eyes focused on the window. He felt power and a presence that was not his, but that of someone else. Someone he didn´t know. A stranger, very close by. Gathering all his strength, he pushed himself up and walked to the window. He had to lean at the wall to keep himself on his feet. It was pathetic.

Two golden reptilian eyes watched the scene from the top of a nearby tree, looking down on the boy, filled with a mischievous glint. "That's not the house we are looking for ..." a drawling voice spoke up.

The owner of the eyes chuckled. "No, it's not. But often it is not what you are looking for, but that what you will find what holds your interest the most."

"Whatever you say ..." the other speaker said, yawning uninterestedly. The golden pair of eyes kept looking at the naked young man in the window for another moment. Full of amusement, it watched the girl coming back into the room and freezing at the sight. Her scream drowned out the quiet chuckle of the observer. Eventually, both, as well as some leaves of the tree were carried away by a breeze.

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Yes, that´s not the house you are looking for. You found a naked Ulquiorra instead. Congrats on that one.  
Thank you (especially **OveractiveImagination39)** for reading the new chapter! We hope you´ve had lots of fun. If you did please leave a review. If you didn´t...well...leave a review anyway and tell us how we could improve! Constructive criticism is almost as appreciated as flattering compliments! :3


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